UPDATE: A day after a video went viral of passersby breaking into a car to rescue two children locked inside, a different story has emerged. The owner of a video store in the shopping center has survelliance tape that shows that the children were with the mother during most of the outing, according to a KHOU update. She put them in the car when the doors locked, along with the keys, and sought help to break into the car. The witness who shot the first video described in the story below did not respond to a request from KHOU for a follow-up interview.

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A group of fast-thinking passersby rescued two small children left sweltering in a locked car while their mother got a haircut at a strip shopping center in Katy. The children’s cries drew the attention of several men who sprang into action, using a hammer to break the vehicle’s windows and release them.

The mother parked her Jeep in front of a hair salon near North Fry Road and Little York for the haircut and told the rescuers she left her children in the car temporarily. She begged them not to call the police, saying she had made a terrible mistake and they complied.

“The kids were in there crying. I mean you would understand. It’s real hot."

Shop owner Gabriel Del Valle captured the rescue on his phone and told KHOU Channel 11 that it took great effort to break the glass.

“The kids were in there crying. I mean you would understand. It’s real hot,” Del Valle said. “And even then, they could barely open the doors because there was a child lock on.”

Within a few minutes the children were freed unharmed and the incident is a reminder that children and pets shouldn’t be left in a hot car.

“Even a dog can die, so imagine a person,” Del Valle said.

Texas leads the nation in the number of heat-related deaths of children left in vehicles, and KidsandCars.org reports that nationally 38 children die every year from heat stroke and heat-related deaths of children left in vehicles.